Hbo generation kill cast driver#
Hbo generation kill cast series#

While soldiers who question the mission are staples of contemporary fiction and film, few works actually portray the dilemma of poor leadership and vexed orders as complexly as does Generation Kill. So too have authors and filmmakers frequently tried to portray truculent enlisted soldiers who have grown cynical in the face of military stupidity and rigidity, but only the Terminal Lance cartoons have done so as strikingly as Generation Kill, especially in Ransone’s role as Corporal Person.

Many movies and books have portrayed the misgivings of overly thoughtful junior leaders, but Generation Kill established the prototype. Very little or nothing since has caught the peculiar way battalion commanders rule their units through fiats that can be inspirational, clarifying, bizarre, and threatening all at once. Very little or nothing in print or film since has achieved the panoramic view from lowest-enlisted to senior officer as they co-exist and interact within a battalion at war. Honestly, criticisms seem like quibbling in regard to the series’ many strengths. But like Melville’s Catskill eagle, which even when it dips below the mountaintops soars higher than the birds of the plains, Generation Kill is never bad bad. In the second half of the series, for example, characters are increasingly given to ponderous speechifying, while scenes that cut-off abruptly with little consequence accumulate. Things fall off a bit after the fast start as the screenwriters struggle to find compelling human drama or plot-turns to animate a somewhat-rote documentary-like retelling of things that happened.

Hbo generation kill cast series#

White excels at making scenes set inside Marine Humvees taut the series is prescient in recognizing the vehicle cabin as the site of intense drama for men and women fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Under Susanna White’s direction, the pacing in Episodes One and Two is relentless and the staging of scenes vivid, with every line and scene momentous. Base camps, uniforms, and vehicle-loads are true-to-life as cinematic portraits go, much better than the hand-waves at verisimilitude of many Iraq and Afghanistan films.

Hbo generation kill cast driver#

It is the actors in supporting roles who memorably light up the screen–in particular, Chance Kelly as Lieutenant Colonel Stephen “Godfather” Ferrando, a charismatic gravel-voiced battalion commander, and James Ransone as Corporal Josh Ray Person, the foul-mouthed driver of Sergeant Colbert’s vehicle.Įspecially in the first two episodes, Generation Kill’s visual style is also superb: full of grainy grimy close-ups of tension-filled faces and striking off-angle shots of the Marines heading into battle. Both are cerebral warriors of not-so-many words, and mostly alike in outlook, so their characters are not especially dynamic. Stark Sands as Lieutenant Nathan Fick and Alexander Skarsgard as Staff Sergeant Brad Colbert are solid as the two leads through whom most of the action is focalized. The miniseries benefited greatly from striking characterizations and compelling acting. The enlisted Marines and junior officers frequently voice doubt and frustration in regard to the mission: in their eyes, they are often placed in complicated situations that threaten their safety, endanger innocent Iraqis, and/or just seem pointless or stupid. Several of the leaders themselves were portrayed as incompetent buffoons. The Marines were shown to be unruly and profane, often given to complaining and questioning their leaders. Generation Kill was lauded upon release for its portrayal of “real” Marines, warts and all. Upon a quick reread of Wright’s book, the mini-series faithfully follows the book in detail and spirit, with many lines of dialogue and scenes transported verbatim from page to screen. Wright rode as an embedded reporter with 1 st Recon, and his account first appeared in Rolling Stone before being extended to book-length. Both book and film recount the exploits of the US Marines’ 1st Reconnaissance Battalion during the early days of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Generation Kill, the 2008 HBO seven-part miniseries produced by David Simon and Ed Burns, the two savants behind the massively acclaimed miniseries The Wire, was based on Evan Wright’s 2004 non-fiction book of the same name.